I Tried To Move To Singapore But Failed

It’s been a goal of mine for the past few years to set up a base of operations in Singapore. The airport is one of the best connected in the world — I could get anywhere in Asia in the matter of a few hours for dirt cheap. The city-state has a mixed cultural / language atmosphere that is stimulating for me and would be excellent for my two daughters to grow up in. There is a booming sub-cultural arts / innovation scene that is rising up as more and more expats leave China and come south.

The problem is that rent is insanely expensive here. We’d be looking at $2,500 per month for a shitty place. I make a little more money now and I’m willing to pay out a little more for good places to stay, but paying that much money for substandard accommodation pushes my economic rationale a little beyond its limits.

We spent a month in Johor Bahru that’s right over the border in Malaysia as we looked for a place to live in Singapore. We didn’t turn anything up, so we retreated to Penang.

Wade Shepard is the founder and editor of Vagabond Journey. He has been traveling the world since 1999, through 88 countries. He is the author of the book, Ghost Cities of China, and contributes to The Guardian, Forbes, Bloomberg, The Diplomat, the South China Morning Post, and other publications. Wade Shepard has written 3426 posts on Vagabond Journey. Contact the author.

I’ve lived in KL for 8 years now — my husband used to live in Singapore, but we rent his condo out there and it basically pays for our whole lifestyle in KL. It’s not as clean as Singapore — but many of the pluses you listed regarding Singapore are the same in Malaysia. Easy to travel, cheap flights, mixed culture. Have you spent time in KL?

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About Wade Shepard

I’m an itinerant writer who has been traveling the world since 1999, through 88 countries. I wrote Ghost Cities of China, a book which chronicles the two years that I spent in China’s new cities, and have another book about the New Silk Road coming out soon. I’m a regular contributor to Forbes, The Diplomat, and the South China Morning Post, and I have been featured on BBC World, VICE, NPR Morning Edition, CNBC Squawk Box, CBC The Current … This is my personal blog where I share stories from the road that don’t fit in anywhere else. In other words, this is my daily diary, raw and real — it is not edited or even proofread. Subscribe below.